Page 77 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
“Yeah. It’s in the parking garage.”
“There’s aparking garage?”
Lex pointed to an unobtrusive door set into one obsidian wall. “Down there. C’mon.”
Sure enough, a standard, run-of-the-mill parking garage sat under the lobby, complete with creepy, flickering fluorescent lights and vehicles crouched patiently in the near-gloom. Lex’s car was verymuch on-brand for them, an ancient AMC Pacer painted a violent shade of green with disintegrating upholstery patched with duct tape. It was punk rock in car form, though the way it rattled and wheezed when Lex started it up suggested we might not make it more than a couple of blocks. Full-throated screams immediately blasted from the speakers. It was supposed to be music, I realized, though it sounded the way I imagined Hell felt.
With Lex drumming on the steering wheel and shaking their mohawk along with the horrible noise, we crept out of the garage and onto the empty streets of Midtown. I offered a few basic directions, then sank back into my seat and stared through the window, brooding. Not about Eric, though. Nope. I was absolutely done thinking about him and the fact that he belonged to an organization that hunted down and murdered people like me, or about the fact that he’d wriggled his way into my life under false pretenses and then exploited my sad loneliness to pump me for information, or about the fourteen times he’d called me in the past few hours. And Icertainlywasn’t thinking about the way his body had felt under my hands, the intoxicating dichotomy between soft skin and hard muscle, the dark hair dusting his perfect chest—
Dammit.
Rather desperately, I forced my mind onto a different topic: Ms.Crenshaw. She’d been more forthcoming with me today than ever before, going so far as to explain Management’s demands before entrusting me with motivating HR. She hadn’t needed me at the meeting with the company’s investors, but she’d brought me along. It was almost as if she was pulling back the veil a little, trusting me a smidgen more. Admittedly, the timing wasn’t ideal—I probably had mere days to enjoy this newfound favor—but it was an intriguing development all the same.
Eventually, we pulled up in front of my apartment building, the car growing quiet with a final rattling shudder. Lex grunted a little as they swung their backpack onto one shoulder, and I was sure I heard stitches pop under the weight of the stone tablet inside. “I had a thought about talking to your roommate,” they said as I unlocked the front door of the building and ushered them inside. “You know if we tell her about Dark Enterprises, she’s in danger, right? Our NDAs specifically prohibit employees from talking about the company.”
Shuffling into the elevator, I sighed. “Yes, I know. But what else can we do? We need her help.”
“I have an idea. Just follow my lead.”
When we got to the apartment, the living room was still and empty. “Amira?” I called. Long moments passed before her bedroom door opened and she came shuffling into view, yawning and running her hands through her tousled hair.
“Please don’t tell me you went back to workagain,” she murmured sleepily. Only then did she register the fact that I wasn’t alone. “Oh. Um. Hi.” Lex offered an ironic salute in greeting as the two of them sized each other up. With her dark brown skin, petite frame, and Powerpuff Girls tank top, Amira made an interesting contrast to Lex’s pale, stocky form, baggy black T-shirt, and numerous facial piercings. What struck me, however, was the improbable fact that Lex’s newly dyed mohawk was the exact shade of magenta as the streak winding its way through Amira’s curls.
“This is Lex. They work with me. Lex, this is Amira, my best friend in the whole world.”
Amira glanced at me, her wariness softening a little. “Hi, Lex,” she murmured. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” Lex mumbled, ducking their head. With some effort, they swung the backpack off their shoulders and set it down on the floorwith a heavythunk. Then they reached into a pocket of their ripped jeans and produced a folded brochure. “Oh no,” they said loudly as they tossed it toward Amira, “I dropped something.” The glossy pages fluttered to the floor at her feet.
Amira and I both stared at Lex. “Did you want me to…get that for you?” she asked uncertainly, starting to bend down.
Lex nodded. “Yes,” they said in a very strange tone. “And perhaps look at it as well.” Then they winked several times.
“Are you having a stroke?” I asked, concerned. “Can you smell burnt toast?”
Lex scowled at me.
Holding the brochure in her hands, Amira studied one side before turning it over. “What’s Dark Enterprises?”
Feeling a little like I’d been punched in the solar plexus by the unexpected question, I fumbled for an answer. “Uh, it’s—”
“I don’t know,” Lex interrupted, giving me a meaningful look. “What does the brochure say?”
“ ‘Changing the world, one problem at a time,’ ” Amira read aloud. She opened the brochure, and on its cover I saw a photo of attractive people with determined smiles. Finally, the penny dropped—she was holding one of the brochures the company gave to prospective clients. “ ‘Surfacing actionable interventions without moral impediments,’ ” she quoted. “ ‘Solutions guaranteed, no questions asked.’ ” Her gaze lifted to me. “What is this?”
“It sounds like a company that specializes in solving problems,” Lex responded, nudging my arm.
I nodded along. “Right. Yeah. Problems.”
“Problems like whatever is happening to New York right now.” This time, Lex deliberately stepped on my foot with their combat boot.
“Ow,” I protested. At their glare, I added hastily, “I bet the people who work for that company are searching for a way to save the city. Boy, I wonder if they need help. From, I don’t know, a mathematical genius. Named Amira.”
Closing their eyes, Lex pinched the bridge of their nose over the top of their glasses. “I swear to god, Colin.”
Amira lowered the brochure. “I don’t understand.”
Lex focused their attention on her. “Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that a company exists that is trying to stop these disappearances. Would you be willing to help?”
